Griffon Hatching

"Your Highness, perhaps you should come take a look at this!" Ladyl suddenly barged into Roland's tent early in the morning, his voice brimming with excitement.

"Oh?" Roland was instantly intrigued.

"Chirp chirp chirp~" Pushing open the half-closed door, Roland immediately spotted five baby griffons scrambling around in a nest made of straw. Their brown bodies, white heads, and wildly flapping yellowish-brown little wings made them look unbearably adorable, nothing like the fierce creatures they would become one day! Having only just opened their eyes, they were curious about everything. When they saw Roland enter, the little griffons showed no fear of strangers. Instead, they propped themselves up at the edge of the nest, opened their mouths, and cried hungrily for food.

"Sir Ladyl, they actually hatched? Isn't this too early?" Roland remembered that griffon eggs usually took at least four weeks to hatch. Yet these griffons had emerged in less than two weeks. Roland had even begun to suspect that his griffons were fake...

"Hehe, I spent two weeks on the road getting here..." Ladyl said with a chuckle, stroking his beard.

"Oh, no wonder!" Roland suddenly understood.

"Your Highness should start considering the matter of training Griffon Knights. Finding suitable riders for them should also be put on the agenda." Ladyl looked at Roland approvingly, his heart filled with relief.

"Yes, it was time to think about the Griffon Knights." Roland spoke thoughtfully. After all, it was best to train griffon riders from a young age. Griffons were exceptionally loyal magical beasts. They generally only recognized their first master, or the descendants entrusted to them by that master. Over their centuries-long lives, they would continue following their original master, fighting and living alongside them. After their master died, they would accompany the master's descendants in life and battle until their own deaths. Thus, a single griffon could usually establish a Sky Knight family that lasted for centuries. The riders for these five griffons needed to be selected under strict scrutiny. Although the people and soldiers under Roland's rule were one hundred percent loyal to him now, once his operation grew larger and his territory expanded, that might not remain the case!

As an aside, Lagrangeans had lifespans just as long as those of Númenóreans, though slightly shorter. They could still live for two or three hundred years, so barring accidents, one griffon was enough for three generations of a Sky Knight family.

"Caslo!" Roland found Caslo feeding the wyverns. The moment Caslo looked up, he saw Roland cheerfully striding toward him with an utterly swaggering gait.

"My lord! Did something good happen?" Caslo immediately noticed the excitement written across Roland's face.

"The griffons have hatched. We can start finding riders for them," Roland said happily.

"That's great! In another year, we'll have five Griffon Knights ready to use! At last, I won't have to guard the skies all by myself." Caslo let out a long breath.

"You're a Wyvern Knight. You should be able to train Griffon Knights, right?" Roland gave Caslo an appraising look from head to toe.

"My lord, you're looking down on me... Aside from Dragon Knights, training any other kind of Sky Knight is child's play!" Caslo immediately bristled. In the specialized field of aerial combat, aside from Dragon Knights, Caslo refused to yield to anyone. Who dared claim they could overpower him? Had they never experienced the despair of a wyvern in their face?

"So confident? As far as I know, Holy Pegasus Knights don't seem weaker than Wyvern Knights..." Roland suddenly remarked in a faint voice.

"Damn! My lord, Holy Light Pegasi have been extinct for who knows how many years! How could creatures whose bones have long turned to dust still exist?" Caslo immediately protested. The sacred attribute of Holy Light Pegasi made them no weaker than wyverns, but their low population had been a fatal weakness. In the end, they had apparently driven themselves extinct. Wild Holy Light Pegasi were simply too scattered; one might go its entire life without encountering another of the opposite sex...

"Well, you never know. Holy Pegasus Knights might really return someday." Roland smiled mysteriously. He believed that, with the system, he should... probably, perhaps, be able to gain the allegiance of Holy Pegasus Knights.

"Uh..." Caslo scratched his head without committing to an opinion.

"Alright, go select suitable candidates from among the villagers' children first." Roland handed the task to Caslo, since it would be a slow and painstaking process.

After sending Caslo away, Roland was about to find something to do when he realized that Ladyl had dragged him out of bed so early that he had forgotten to check in. He could only stand in the Barracks and check in.

"System check-in!"

Check-in successful! Congratulations, Host, you have received Conscript Light Infantry ×500.

"Damn! Good grief!" Roland was thoroughly startled. A sudden reward of five hundred troops had shocked him speechless. Roland had gone to the Battle of Erebor with only five hundred men; this instantly brought him back to full strength!

"Wait? Conscript Light Infantry? Damn it! System, can't you switch it out? Even one hundred Swift River Infantry would do..." Roland's face immediately fell when he looked more closely...

What were Conscript Light Infantry? Put nicely, they were lightly equipped infantry recruited in an emergency. Put bluntly, they were militia... If Swift River Infantry were cannon fodder, then these men could only be considered human-shaped obstacles on the battlefield. They had no combat experience, and their weapons and equipment were unbelievably poor... Of course, what could one expect from ordinary people hastily conscripted in an emergency?

As Roland was thinking, the sentries atop the city wall behind him suddenly reported that a huge wave of refugees was rushing toward the city. Immediately afterward, several Knights rode out to intercept and investigate. (Thanks to the Barracks being built against the eastern city wall, the city garrison could quickly climb onto the wall or ride out to intercept enemies.)

"Hyah!" The Knights who had just left the city soon galloped back.

"Your highness! They're Imperial Conscript Light Infantry! I can't believe there are still organized Imperial conscripted soldiers wandering outside!" The knight looked utterly astonished.

Boom! After a burst of chaotic crashing and jostling, the Conscript Light Infantry finally managed to kneel on one knee before Roland. Roland's mouth twitched. They were even worse than the ones in the game! Where were the soldiers here? What was the difference between them and armed refugees? No wonder the sentries had mistaken them for a refugee tide...

Roland carefully examined the conscript infantrymen before him and could not help revealing a disappointed expression. First, their armor—forget Iron Armor, they did not even have leather armor... Good grief, they were charging around in plain cloth! They were even poorer than the Orc army under Azog. Their weapons were also pitifully scarce. Aside from a sixty-centimeter iron one-handed sword, they carried nothing else...

Roland could not help looking up at the sky. This was taking light equipment to the absolute extreme! Just how lightly equipped were they? In his memory, lightly equipped soldiers at least had leather armor and iron helmets, as well as Longswords and round leather shields...

That day, Roland felt the system's malice and finally understood that the difference between lightly equipped troops could be this vast...

The final update of 2021. Wishing all readers a happy New Year, good fortune in all things, and overflowing wealth. And since Gandalf was still updating on New Year's Eve, please send a few more recommendation votes!